Freebies

I love getting free things-who doesn't? Today the girls and I lucked up. Our library had a whole table of free children's magazines (back issues). We've all (even me) had so much fun reading through them this afternoon.

Our State Flower

Today was such a lovely day that the girls and I could not stay cooped up. It was over 70 degrees, bright and breezy (with severe storms of the way). We couldn't resist stopping to smell (and pick) the...camelias! There were beautiful light pink and white camelias blooming every where.

Emma helped me arrange them-2 vases and 1 bowl (for all the ones she picked a little too short! LOL). We all love fresh flowers around the house-especially in the middle of winter.

Grandma's Apron

This year for Christmas I made several of my friends aprons. I found a sweet vintage pattern and tried my best to find what looked like vintage fabric. I was really pleased with how they turned out.
Here's such a nice tidbit about aprons that Cheryl (aka Pamela) sent me:

Grandma's Apron
The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath. But along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven; it was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasions was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids; and when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.

I can't wait to start sewing vintage aprons for me and the girls (that's on my very long to-do list!). Here's the pattern I purchased for ours:

All that's left to do is actually SEW them! Wish me luck!

Simple Gesture

I received this card in the mail the other day from a dear, sweet friend.

I love getting cards, but what made this one so special was that she had hand painted it. Isn't it beautiful! The nice thing is that the words she wrote inside are even more beautiful than the painting. She's such a talented lady with a lovely, lovely heart. I'm so blessed to have her as a friend.

Simple Sewing

Here's my latest project:

We were cleaning the sunporch/playroom/schoolroom the other day and Emma mentioned she would like a table cloth. My first thought was that I didn't have time. Then I decided I could make time. After all it wouldn't take that long. I gave her 2 choices of fabric. We also decided to make cushions for her little chairs. This was something I meant to do so long ago. It took less than 30 minutes to measure, cut fabric and sew the table cloth and 2 cushions. Emma smiled from ear to ear when she saw the finished product. It was so worth it to take that little bit of time to give her such pleasure.

New Wheels for Emma!

My girls love, love, love to ice skate, but...we're kind of lacking in ice around here! Lately we've gotten back to roller blading. I was bored with the cardio part of my workout routine. Instead I decided to skate on the days I normally do cardio. It's been so much fun! We open up the barn, turn the radio up loud and skate for at least an hour.

We only had one small problem-Emma just had little "kiddie" plastic skates. We made a visit to Target and got her some brand new PURPLE skates! She feels so grown up with "real" skates. Now everyone's happy and exercising at the same time. Sometimes it's just the simple things that make your heart smile!

Laissez les bon temps roules!

Our family is not big into celebrating Mardi Gras, but the area we live in celebrates almost daily for weeks! This year we attended a few parades-one of which was right in front of my father-in-law's house. The weather was beautiful and we caught tons of things! Plus we enjoyed the time spent with family and friends.

"Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival the three day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday (some traditions count Carnival as the entire period of time between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday.[1]) The entire three day period has now come to be known in many areas as Mardi Gras [2]. Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Venice, Italy; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, except in the United Kingdom where pancakes are the tradition, and also in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean."